Freckles
by darkwriter14
Summary: Anna used to love her many freckles. She has them everywhere, and she loved showing the ones on her shoulders off for the coronation. But after Hans laughed at them, she became embarrassed and tried to hide-especially from Kristoff- that she had them anywhere else besides her face. But with a hot summer, that might be a problem… Kristoff/Anna one-shot


**It's been forever since I've written something for FanFiction! I just LOVE _Frozen_, and I've been wanting to write something for it forever! I'm sure there will be a lot more stories than this. Anyway, I've always heard an adage that guys don't like freckles, and I don't believe this at all. I noticed that Anna has lots of freckles in the movie, and this idea came to me while I was watching it tonight.**

~The original characters and story of _Frozen _belong completely to Disney; I own nothing!~

Anna had always been proud of her freckles. Not a whole lot of people in Arendelle had them-or her red hair, for that matter-, so they made her feel special. That was one of the reasons she had requested an off-the-shoulder dress for Elsa's coronation: she wanted to show off the spots that dotted not just across her cheeks and nose, but her shoulders as well. She may not be the queen, but she was special in her own way-and she wanted men to see that.

When she had first met Hans, he had run a thumb boldly across one of her shoulders and said that her freckles were adorable, with something of a smirking smile on his face. In her giddy excitement that a man was paying attention to her (and the excitement that he could be "the one"), she took the odd smile as playful. But in the hour of time that he had left her to freeze to death in the sitting room in the palace, Anna had realized that he had been laughing at them. He had probably seen them as one of many imperfections. He had probably seen her streak of white hair laughable, too. It left her wondering, What else is odd or laughable about me?

But then there was Kristoff. He made her laugh and she made him laugh. He had kissed her and _wanted _to kiss her, unlike Hans. And he had stuck with her throughout her entire ridiculous, perilous journey. The only thing he seemed to find laughable about her was her complete and utter disregard for rules and propriety. Did _he _find other things about her laughable, like her freckles? But then again, Hans had hidden scorn behind praise and fake affection, and Kristoff, when questioned about her whitening hair, hesitated about what he thought instead of just lying and saying it was beautiful. Didn't that count for anything?

Despite these thoughts, Anna couldn't bring herself to reveal her shoulders again. Where she had originally found her freckles unique, she now believed the long-heard "fact" that freckles were unattractive on a woman. Her relationship was Kristoff was completely unknown to her, especially considering that her perspective and view of love had been completely wrong after Hans. She didn't know what guys liked, and she definitely didn't know what Kristoff liked about her. What if he thought freckles were ugly? What if he barely liked her at all and was just being nice because it was all he could be? Finding out that she was completely covered in freckles could give him the reason to stop being nice and send her away!

After Elsa had thawed her self-created winter, summer came back in full swing and heat in the kingdom of Arendelle. July ended and August crept in, along with hottest days of the year. Anna had always loved wearing off-shoulder or sleeveless dresses best during these hot months, but now that she was with Kristoff and had realized that Hans had thought her freckles were dorky, she was staying far away from her favorite summer dresses. She wore long-sleeved or shorter-sleeved dresses instead, choosing to bake in the sun instead of risk embarrassment with her freckles. When she spent time with Kristoff, she tried to act like she wasn't hot and tried to steer him toward activities in the shade, all the while feeling like she had been shoved inside an oven.

One day, as they wandered up a mountain trail that Kristoff had been eager for her to see, Kristoff noticed her very red, sweaty face and ridiculously long sleeves. Sven was splitting his time between lumbering alongside them and bounding through the trees and bushes, mostly leaving the two to themselves.

As they made their way up the trail, Kristoff turned to walk backwards so he could look at Anna. His winter wear had been replaced with a light shirt and pants that didn't hold the summer heat against his body. "So what's with the long sleeves?" he questioned, raising his blond eyebrows with a crooked, laughing smile.

Anna's eyes snapped to his, startled. "Wh-what?" she stammered, her red face reddening further.

Kristoff nodded in her general direction to indicate her outfit. "Your long sleeves. You've been wearing long sleeves since Elsa brought summer back."

"I have not!" Anna protested indignantly. "I've worn shorter sleeves!"

"Yeah, but not dresses without sleeves or when they're kind of on your arm." Kristoff frowned a bit as he tried to describe the off-the-shoulder style, and he stumbled slightly over a tree root. He righted himself but continued to walk backwards.

Anna laughed. She knew what he meant, but she liked to see him flustered; it was endearing. "What do you mean by 'kind of on my arm'?" she said, teasingly trying to steer the conversation away from his original question.

Kristoff's brows furrowed as he thought. "You know, like on the dress you wore for Elsa's coronation."

Anna's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You actually remember what I was wearing?"

Kristoff flushed a bit. "W-well, yeah, I remember thinking how ridiculous it seemed that you were wearing it when I walked into Oaken's Trading Post right after a snow storm."

Anna pouted, her flush creeping further across her face. "You know what happened! I didn't exactly have time to change my clothes to go chasing after my upset sister that had suddenly brandished snow powers-"

"Anna," Kristoff laughed, cutting her off. "You're avoiding my question."

Anna abruptly stopped and looked down at her shoes, folding her arms tightly across her chest. "I-I just like sleeves," she mumbled stubbornly, not looking at him.

"That's a lie. Sometimes I see you staring at them like you want to rip them off."

Anna bit her lip and ducked her head further. She didn't say anything.

"Anna, what's wrong?" Kristoff asked, the humor gone from his voice. He hesitantly reached out to tip her head up with his hand, trying to meet her eyes.

With a deep breath, Anna flicked her eyes to his for a second and then down again. She mumbled something unintelligibly under her breath.

"Huh?"

"It's my freckles!" Anna blurted out, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. She began chewing at her bottom lip again.

"…Your freckles?" Kristoff repeated, his tone bewildered. He stared at Anna's face, trying to comprehend what her freckles had to do with making herself roast to death.

Anna nodded, still not meeting his gaze.

"What about your freckles?" He put his hands on her shoulders, trying to get her to look at him.

"They're dorky," she whispered. "And I-I don't want you to laugh."

"Laugh?"

The hurt in Kristoff's voice made Anna look up at him to see the frown etched across his face and pain flashing in his eyes.

"Why would you think I would laugh?"

Kristoff's hurt had her backpedaling instantly. "Oh, Kristoff. I'm sorry. It's not you. It was something someone else did. That's all." She put a hand up against his cheek in an attempt to take away the pain she had given him.

"Was it Hans?" Kristoff asked quietly, looking seriously into her blue eyes. He reached up, almost without thinking about it, to put his hand over Anna's on his cheek.

Anna opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out. She could only nod mutely.

Kristoff sighed. "I'm sorry." His eyebrows creased in anger, and he muttered, "That guy is such a jerk."

"I know, and I shouldn't let him get to me. But now I'm just…embarrassed." She looked to the side, biting her lip again.

Kristoff gave a soft laugh and turned her head back to him. "Don't be. I would never laugh at or think your freckles were ugly. In fact, I-" He paused, his face reddening and his eyes darting away. "I like them."

Anna smiled hopefully, tugging at the end of one of her braids. "You…do?"

Kristoff nodded, keeping his eyes turned away. "They're-they're cute," he admitted, his voice low and rough in embarrassment. He took a deep breath before looking back at Anna. "So I'm guessing you have freckles on your shoulders and arms, and you were embarrassed about people seeing them." At Anna's pointed look, he amended, "You were embarrassed about _me _seeing them."

Anna nodded.

After staring at her for a moment, Kristoff stepped back and folded his arms across his chest. A mischievous smile crept across his face and lit his eyes. "Well, since we've established that I actually like your freckles, I want to see them."

Anna gaped at him. "Wh-wh-what?"

Kristoff rolled his eyes. "Your shoulder. Let me see what you've been so embarrassed about so I can tell you to stop."

Anna flushed and looked away, fiddling with a braid and chewing her lip. "Fine. But you have to promise not to laugh."

"I thought we already established that I don't laugh at your freckles."

Anna heaved a sigh and tossed a braid over her shoulder, getting it out of the way. Without meeting his eyes, she pulled the left sleeve of her dress down a bit to reveal the curve of her shoulder. "There," she muttered.

She glanced up to look at Kristoff, and her breath stopped when she realized how much closer he was. His face was inches from her as he studied her exposed shoulder, his eyes completely serious. After a moment, a small smile stretched his mouth.

"What?" Anna asked, noticing his smile.

Kristoff jerked slightly, as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have. "Uh…" His face flushed tomato red and he stepped back, not meeting her eyes. "It's nothing."

"You were smiling!" Anna persisted, worry crossing her face. "You promised not to laugh!" She pulled her sleeve back up to her shoulder.

"No, no, I wasn't laughing!" he said quickly, looking up at her. He looked away again when he met her eyes.

"Then what was with the smile?" Anna said, crossing her arms in a pout.

Kristoff mumbled something that Anna didn't catch.

"Huh?" Anna stepped closer, straining to hear him.

"They were beautiful," he mumbled louder, his face reddening further. Without looking at Anna, he turned to keep walking.

A wide grin spread across Anna's face and she grabbed Kristoff's arm, stopping him from rushing away. "What was beautiful?" she asked, the smile threatening to break her face.

Kristoff smiled his crooked, embarrassed smile and glanced over at her. "Your freckles," he clarified. "I think they're beautiful."

Anna gave a giggle and threw her arms around him, pecking him on the lips and settling her face against his neck. Kristoff gave her an awkward hug back, still not quite sure why those words made her so happy. "Any other insecurities I should know about?" he asked, his lips moving against the skin of her neck.

"I'll let you know." She kissed him again, and they continued on their hike, Anna finally able to enjoy herself knowing the truth about Kristoff's feelings for her freckles. (Had she really been concerning herself about his feelings for her _freckles_?)

The next day, Anna wore her favorite summer dress. It was off-the-shoulder, her shoulders bared in their freckled glory, and as soon as Kristoff saw her, he grabbed her and kissed her shoulder, earning shrieking laughs from Anna.

She didn't wear sleeves for the rest of the summer.


End file.
